Mother Teresa Essay Research Paper Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa Essay, Research Paper

Mother Teresa is a gift from God that has been sent down on Earth to help people

who needs her help. She is a well known person throughout the world for devoting her

life in helping the poor, the homeless, the sick, and the dying. Her faith in loving,

serving, and respecting those who are poor and deprived gives us powerful lessons to

treat our fellow human beings with love and respect.

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 27, 1910 in a Macedonian town of

Skopje. Her parents baptized Agnes as a Christian. She was the youngest of the three.

Her older sister Aga, was five years old and her older brother Lazar, was two years old.

Agnes. father died after he collapsed and was brought to the hospital. But her mother

managed to keep the family together by starting a small embroidery business.

Although Anges. mother had a little business and a family to take of she still had

time to help the local poor. Agnes would accompany her mother on her visits to the sick,

the elderly, and the lonely. From a very early age, Agnes exhibited a tenderness for those

who were less fortunate than she. In that free time she would also go to the church of the

Sacred Heart in Skpoje, organizing prayer groups and arranging special observances.

Agnes enjoys saying her prayers on her own and often could be found kneeling in

church when no one else was there ( Clucas, 1988 ). Agnes became very flushed with

her mother.s personal faith and desire to serve God in a practical, helpful way. And from

her mother it gave Agnes a lasting impression for helping and serving the Lord.

Agnes attended a nonCathlolic government school. At the age of twelve she

became interested in religion. She amazed the church meeting by pinpointing the exact

location and the work done by each mission, on the map of the world ( Leigh, 1986 ).

Around the age of fourteen she began to think that not only would she become a nun, but

that she would join an order of missionaries.

During her senior year of highschool, she began to seriously consider the

possibility dedicating her life to God. When Agnes prayed for guidance, she believed

that God was calling her to go to the mission in India and she decided that she will go.

This was her response, . I decided to leave my home and become a nun, and since then

I.ve never doubted that I.ve done the right thing. It was the will of God. It was his

choice . ( Clucas, 1988 ).

Agnes was off to Abbey in Dublin, Ireland. The reason for her to go their was to

learn English, the language they would teach school children in India. But the most

important thing she learned was silence. There was to be silence at the dining table

while one of the sisters read aloud from the Bible or another book. And then, from

bedtime to morning, came the . Great Silence. . Not a word was to be spoken until the

girls preparing to be nuns would awake and come together to hear Mass and take

Communion. ( Jacobs, 1991 ). In Ireland, was the place that Agnes changed her name to

Teresa. She chose that name in honor of the French saint, Therese of Lisieux, known as

the Little Flower of Jesus ( Leigh, 1986 ).

In January, 1929, Agnes finally arrived in India. By then she finally got used to

her new name Teresa. Then two years later, she took her first vows as a Sister of Loreto.

She pledged herself to a life of poverty, purity, and obedience. As Sister Teresa, she

began to teach and help the nurses at a small medical station in northern India. Next, she

was assigned to teach at the Loreto convent school in a section of Calcutta.

In May, 1937, Sister Teresa took her final vows. Soon afterward the Head

( principal ) of the school retired, and Teresa took her place as Head, becoming for the

first time . Mother Teresa. .

She should have been happy. Yet, as she looked around her, she could not avoid

seeing Calcutta.s poor. She began to pray that, somehow, she could do more to help

those who suffered so much. From Skopje, her mother, Drana, encouraged her,

reminding her why she had gone to India in the first place-. to help the poorest of the

poor.. (Jacobs, 1991 ).

On September 10, 1946, while traveling by train for her annual retreat, something

happened. Mother Teresa heard the voice of God. She refers to it: . And when it

happens the only thing to do is to say .yes.. The message was quite clear-I was to give up

all and follow Jesus into the slims-to serve Him in the poorest of the poor. I knew it was

His will and that I had to follow Him. There was no doubt that it was to be His work. I

was to leave the convent and to work with the poor, living among them. It was an order.

I knew where I belonged but I did not know how to get there. . ( Teresa, 1995 )

To start her own order of sisters, first she had to ask permission for her

supervisors to leave. At first, the authorities wouldn.t let her do this but Mother Teresa